What now, NRA?

Rob Pincus and Joshua Prince
prepare to address the NRA at the NRAAM

Do you remember Union Carbide?
Montgomery Ward?
Sears, Roebuck, and Company?
ITT Technical Institute?

What do these have in common?

Two of them have ceased to exist, one is on the ropes, and what was left of Union Carbide after the Bhopal gas leak was purchased by Dow Chemical in 2001.

Each of them was at one time a thriving business. Sears was a major mail-order powerhouse. Ward's was a big retailer. ITT Technical Institute helped many through technical career education.

Today, people are still ordering items mail-order, only online and not from Sears. Many are still getting technical educations, but not at ITT anymore. Chemicals are in use everywhere, but not produced by Union Carbide. People still shop at local department stores, but not Ward's.

The point of this narrative is to point out that any entity is subject to eventual demise, perhaps through a catastrophic industrial accident as happened to Union Carbide. Perhaps simply through poor business practices or failure to meet customer needs.

It appears to me that the NRA, of which I am a life member, has been able to get away with some poor business practices and has failed is some instances to have the best interest of customers (members and other gun owners) at heart.

For example, they have supported a new permit system in Tennessee HB1264, which provides for a concealed only permit at a lesser expense than the current permit. On the face of it, this might seem like a good bill, but it lines Tennesseans up with Floridians who have gotten into trouble when their concealed handgun was accidentally revealed. (correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't that a Janet Reno provision in Florida?)

Further, the NRA's 'major industrial disaster' may be the State of New York, where NRA is incorporated. There was the NRA Carry Guard debacle. More recently, New York has ordered NRA to not shred any documents! Then there is the apparent acquiescence to the Trump bump-stock ban.

Some members have called for the Board of Directors to fire EVP & CEO Wayne LaPierre, and do some major house cleaning. At the Saturday Meeting of Members, an attempt was made to adjourn the meeting before this subject could be broached. But Joshua Prince called a point of order and the subject was barely touched on before it was referred to the Board for further investigation. To me, that appeared to be similar to the Tennessee Legislature sending a bill to 'summer study' to die a quiet death.

NRA's Board of Directors met Monday, and to all outward appearances it is business as usual.

But, how can it continue to be business as usual with Cuomo breathing down your neck, and perhaps the IRS coming from the other direction and performing a deep proctological exam on the organization's nonprofit status.

I'm the NRA, and I really want my organization to do well, but changes are called for sooner rather than later!

The very survival of the organization may be at stake.

What do you think?